21 / 28
19
UJ WEEKEND OF JAZZ
The inaugural UJ Weekend of Jazz, in celebration of Africa
month, took place at UJ Arts Centre from 2527 May 2018.
In line with UJ Arts & Culture’s strategic focus on creating
sites for different engagement opportunities, and offering
experiences with the potential to create positive change, there
is the recognition that jazz as a genre is also transforming.
At the
UJ Weekend
of
Jazz
, coinciding with the ‘eve’ of Africa
Day, UJ staff and guests were treated to a programme-
opening performance by Tlale Makhene, accompanied
by UJ’s Soweto Campus Jazz Band. The festival featured
Sun Xa Experiment, Langa Mavuso, Bombshelter Beast,
Mandla Mlangeni and the TRC, Jazz Cats, Zoe Modiga,
and concluded with a jazz jam picnic hosted on the UJ
Arts Centre piazza, with an outdoor performance by
the Steve Dyer Quartet, presenting Anglo African.
AFRICAN GOTHIC
National Arts Festival
6-8 July: Rhodes Box
19-25 July: The Fringe Theatre
at Joburg Theatre
After a year-long interdisciplinary
process, UJ Arts & Culture and the
National Arts Festival Press present
the development run of Reza de Wet’s
iconic
African
Gothic
(translation of
Diepe
Grond
) on the main programme. The
staging of the play is the culmination
of the 2017 interdisciplinary process,
which saw more than 300 students and
lecturers from different departments at
FADA become involved in various design
and development aspects of the work.
CHOIR BOY
National Arts Festival
4-7 July: St Andrews
Choir Boy is UJ Arts & Culture’s student
production that tells the story of a young
man who wants nothing more than to
take his rightful place as leader of the
school’s legendary gospel choir. Can he
find his way inside the hallowed halls of
this institution if he sings in his own key?
Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney
and directed by Namatshego
Khutsoane,
Choir Boy
features UJ
Arts Academy students, alongside
respected professional actors Renos
Spanoudes and Lebohang Motaung.
HILDEGARD LERNT
FLIEGEN (HILDEGARD
LEARNS TO FLY)
Art Centre Theatre
4 July
Hildegard
Lernt
Fliegen
is a Swiss
formation of avant-garde jazz, headlined
by singer Andreas Schaerer. In 2014,
the band received the BMW Welt
Jazz Award, and subsequently toured
Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the
Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia,
Lithuania, Russia, Luxembourg, China,
Italy, Finland, the UK and France.
TRANS
UJ Art Gallery
15 August-19 September
Brazilian curator, Daniella Géo, delves
into the archives of the Bag Factory’s
alumni, to contemplate the impact its
artists had on the art scene and the role
it played in connecting Johannesburg
with the rest of Africa and the world.
UJ YOUTH ARTS FESTIVAL
Art Centre & Cowan Theatre
5 August-1 September
The festival will cast a spotlight
on some of the best new creative
voices, with students from other
institutions, colleges and youth
groups joining UJ Arts & Culture
students in a showcase of acting,
singing, dancing and making music.